On Sat, 22 Oct 2016 05:58:30 -0500, Alan Holbrook >
wrote:

>Every once in a while, when I get the feeling that my arteries are still
>too flexible and my heart isn't working hard enough pumping blood, I'll
>make a large skillet of sawmill gravy and pour it over biscuits for
>breakfast. The recipe I follow says, as do all the other recipes I've seen
>that involve making a white sauce, that once you have the roux the color
>you want, you should take the pan off the heat to add the milk. I've often
>wondered why that is and what would happen if you added the milk directly
>to the pan containing the roux while it's still on the burner. Rather than
>risk seven years' bad luck or something similar trying it, I thought I'd
>ask. Can any of the RFC intelligentsia enlighten me?

Never had any problem with making white sauce but only cook the roux a
couple of minutes to cut the 'flour' taste, certainly don't want it to
colour. I have never taken it off the heat before adding the milk
but I do whisk while adding slowly so it is all incorporated well,
this is the stage where you could get some lumps.